MsKreed

I doubt that there's really a "decision" between the two for NY voters.....it's pretty much a given where our electoral votes will go. (So I will vote a third party, knowing it won't change the 2024 outcome, but will give other parties more strength and viability in NYS) This will be decided in the swing states.

I only recently found it on my phone keyboard, by navigating to the "more symbols" icon. Still don't know how to get it on the "qwerty" keyboard on my laptop. When they rearranged other symbols, they didn't find a new home for it. I get a channel on Sling called Buzzr that runs old game shows. I only catch a few that I liked “back in the day”. A lot are ones I never cared for and don’t tune into.....but I’ve seen ads that, during certain time blocks, they apparently play the original vintage commercials along with the show. I bet some of those ads would be more entertaining than the lot of the actual shows.

Thanks for clarifying. I knew from seeing convicts in prison that there are felony “vehicular assault” and "vehicular manslaughter” charges that are based on BAC but separate from any DWI that also may apply. So for example.... *Stopped by a roadblock with BAC 0.08 and initially charged with DWI that could be reduced to DWAI. It was a roadblock with no accident, damage, victims,et ....so no other charges. Class E felony DWI is the most serious conviction this arrest could result in. *Hit someone causing injury while drunk and charged with Vehicular Assault. Depending on severity of injuries and BAC (.08 to over 0.18%), it could be First Degree, Second Degree or Aggravated (Vehicular Assault. I believe those are Class E, D and C felonies respectively). And, of course, still also be charged with DWI. So in a case where assault and fleeing the scene with injuries are added on, one or more Class D or C felonies would also be charged over and above a DWI/DWAI. Then it seems like the prosecutor would still have discretion to reduce the DWI, but not required to drop to DWAI, if they choose not to aggressively pursue any potential C/D assaults. (FYI, if convicted of Class E felony DWI they are usually assigned to minimum security prisons and often eligible for "Shock" incarceration.....any higher Class and/or assault, endangerment, etc and they will almost certainly be seeing a maximum security facility instead of Shock/min security).

Seems like this was an intentional assault using truck as a potentially lethal weapon. And he fled the scene with injured victims. And as Karen noted, there was a child victim to boot. That feels like he could theoretically be written up for multiple felonies in addition to DWI....and those degrees and "classes" could depend on the seriousness of injuries and his BAC. I always thought that 'reduced' charge negotiations generally involved dropping (or lowering to a lesser charge) the most serious charges..... and prosecuting lower charges. If my perceptions on that are correct.....then something like a Class E DWI itself could be a reduced/lowered charge in lieu of a some other charge(s) like aggravated vehicular assault (or the less likely "attempted murder" as some suggest from his pattern).

I recall seeing either an ad or sign that said Sherrif. He couldn't even spell the office he was running for, and won't be surprised to see "Laurey for Town Counsel" ads. 🙄

I love this concept!! I would go further and suggest the County consider a concept like this on a regular basis......perhaps as part of the Community Building that has been proposed with ARP funds. As encouraging as I am about the new leadership for the Fair Board, it's disappointing to see the endless value of the Fairgrounds limited to Ag Society's occupancy for one week a year.

I was wondering the same thing. Perhaps the vagrant population in Ithaca has stripped all the abandoned buildings in Ithaca clean? Or maybe one or more of them are from the area and had a "lead" on a vacant building to burgle? In any event, I doubt it will be reported when their appearance dates come and go.....when they'll either get probation or not show up at all. 🙄

he Chemung County Sheriff’s Office announces the arrest of 20-year old ABIGAIL V. FULLER, 21-year old CAMREN N. SUSMAN, 20-year old LEVI L. KEELING, and 21-year old JACKSON G. HAFL, all being from Ithaca, for Burglary in the Third Degree, a class D Felony offense of the New York State Penal Law. On February 22, 2024, Deputies responded to a vacant building in the Village of Wellsburg for a burglary in progress. Upon arriving, a Deputy observed subjects inside the building with flashlights. One subject, unaware of the Deputy being outside, exited the building with a box and plastic crate full of items. At which time, the suspect was detained by the Deputy. More Deputies responded to the scene and all suspects were detained. Further investigation revealed the subjects forced entry into the property through a rear door with the intent to steal property from within. The suspects were arrested and transported to the Chemung County Sheriff’s Office where they were fingerprinted and photographed. The suspects were issued appearance tickets to appear in the Wellsburg Village Court at a later date.

First of all......Mayor Lucas's initial reaction (while victims were still being triaged) was to beat the "gun violence" drum on cue. So, I guess it's not surprising that he'd take issue with any phrasing that blames the criminals instead of the inanimate object. Secondly....I'm trying to figure out when someone decided that "thug" is supposedly a reference to someone of color. The term has been in pop culture and mainstream vernacular since the 1920s to describe any criminal that uses threats of physical force, etc. It referred to organized Crime figures during Prohibition......like Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel and Al Capone. And were depicted as white guys to the point of being a frickin' cliche "in the most classic sense" :

Thank you Lawana. I agree that it's appropriate for the Legislative Clerks to administer whatever Agenda platform is chosen, and that it is the Legislature's job to compare and choose a platform. This is the precedent since 2008, and the correct process. As long as his choice for an internal system for the Exec branch does not require a duplicated expense for taxpayers. The Granicus distributor has shown very poor reliability and inadequate support for the Streaming platform. I recall the streaming failures for at least 2 months (for the 12/11 meeting when Legislative salaries were passed). Approving more money for a vendor that is not meeting its commitment is a ridiculous waste. And I agree with this: Setting expectations and demanding accountability for the expenditures that each department is requesting is not unreasonable. In fact it's irresponsible for the Legislature to "rubber stamp" large expense requests without really knowing what they're spending our money on. If a department head is asking for funding for electronic signs, transit buses or building improvements/upgrades, the Legislature (and taxpayers) should at least have an idea of the specific products and services that amount is for....and ask questions about the justification. We just approved a $300k bond (to combine with $2.4 million in grants) for the "purchase of transit buses"at an estimated total cost of $2,730,000. There may be perfectly good reasons why this is a great investment. And if it's a good idea, then those who are asking for it should be eager to state the benefits. How many buses? Electric or diesel? If electric, will we need another multi-million dollar expense for charging capability?

I have no doubt that de-funding a few positions in a department that Moss oversees will cause more friction. But that shouldn't be an excuse, if the IT department is not effective, to keep wasting money on an over-bloated staff . There is no justification to spend more than we already are on Information Technology. If we are forced to pay an "expert", then such expert should be used instead of a portion of the IT payroll....not "in addition to". And honestly, Moss himself has been more than happy to 'stick it' to staff under his control. The week he was sworn in (January 2019) he asked the Legislature to slash the pay of all of his department heads (non-elected civilian staff -- some perfectly effective, not deficient in any way). This included the previous IT Director, and resulted in him choosing to retire immediately from a job he was great at. If he stayed a couple of more years (as intended), the lowered salary could have lowered his average income and reduced his pension for life. The notice Moss gave on cutting their salaries was not only during Christmas Season....it was so short that the man didn't have time to retire before the New year (under the best terms for his 38 years of dedicated service), and needed to request special Legislature approval to extend his benefits (See HERE).

Considering that Granicus has not provided adequate support for their Streaming platform, it does not give me a lot of confidence in their PEAK agenda software that the Exec purchased. I'm further amazed that a few people commented on Strange's post that the County should consider hiring outside IT services to get the Streaming issues resolved. For the $26k/year subscription that we are paying them, Granicus should be able to work with our County IT Department. And if we need "outside experts" because the County IT Department isn't proficient enough to handle it, the Legislature should be considering whether the 15 FTE employees with a payroll of over $800k/year plus benefits are a good investment.

More reason to distrust the UN and its “Relief” organization (UNRWA): AP News - Israel unveils tunnels underneath Gaza City headquarters of UN agency for Palestinian refugees This is not (as AOC and Tlaib would have us believe) just a dozen rogue aid workers sympathizing with the Palestinian’s plight. It’s evidence of a large scale effort by UNRWA to create and perpetuate a “need” for its own services (and unlimited funding).......by purposefully engaging in activities intended to pour gasoline on the fire that is the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

Yeah.... When I saw it, I thought it was just a quirky throwback created to be reminiscent of the JFK days, then found out today that it was actual footage and audio from a 1960 campaign commercial.

He (correctly) noted in his apology: "FEC rules prohibit Super PACs from consulting with me or my staff." This is from the 2010 SCOTUS ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That case determined that PACs have essentially the same First Amendment rights as individuals regarding free speech (independent and separate from any candidate or organization they support).

For the last several years, I have voted for the Libertarian candidate, even though I know there is no chance they'd receive enough votes to win New York's electoral votes. Contrary to the flawed logic of critics who say this is a "spoiler" vote that will only "take" votes away from one of the candidates.....I do not believe my vote is wasted by voting this way. First it's my vote to "give", and never belonged to either major candidate. So nothing was "taken" from them unless we assume they someone had some claim to my vote to begin with. Second, even if we did subscribe to that premise.....perhaps it could make a difference in a swing state. But this is New York State; the blue candidate will get all of our electoral votes anyway. And lastly (most importantly).....a vote for someone other than D/R is not simply a "symbolic" gesture that just sends some message without real world consequence. Voting something other than D/R is the best way to allow other parties to exist in in NYS. The major parties running the show in Albany have hinged the legal recognition of third parties on the number of votes a party receives in the most recent major election. So, discouraging votes for 'outsiders' results in restricting future competition by those outside parties. Because they are unable to participate in future elections, unless they can gather prohibitively large numbers of signatures as an independent party, instead of a "recognized" party with automatic ballot access.

Several have declared intent But unfortunately, the "duopoly" holds power within state legislatures that set eligibility laws.....and has colluded in some states to create unreasonable barriers to ballot access. So, it could be impossible for anyone other than a D or R to win, if other candidates aren't on ballots in enough states to attain the 207 electoral votes needed. Source

I have a headache from trying to figure out how the “weighted scoring system” is calculated. There’s no clarification and the math is not even a little bit self-explanatory. Hamlin: 21-7-14 = 140 votes Flacco: 13-26-8 = 151 votes

Joe Flacco, not Damar Hamlin shockingly wins NFL Comeback Player of the Year

Oy VEY!! The Agenda software debate continues, and took up several minutes of yesterday's BUDGET COMMITTEE meeting . This makes me wonder how Moss has purchased and already begun using his "PEAK" system without the Legislature allocating funds? The Legislature is proposing replacing Novus (which is retiring soon), with another system of their own choosing. This new, new system (CivicPlus) sounds better. It is $10k less per year than Moss's "PEAK", and will import the Novus archives (which Novus does not).

I admit I never followed Gina’s “controversial” behavior. I think she was amazing in the Mandalorian and didn't hear about the stuff that Disney considered "abhorrent and unacceptable" until after she was canned. I tend to get frustrated trying to sort out the full and accurate context of “he said/she said” quotes and snippets. Honestly.....from the examples I’ve seen cited, I tend to agree with THIS article that Forbes ran a while after she was fired.

The Executive says an agreement has been reached between him and the Legislative leadership He posted a short video on his FB page: Here I'm glad they are moving forward to do their jobs and conduct business.....but do have some concerns regarding continuity and retention of archives. There does not seem to be any online records of Legislative and Committee meetings prior to November 2008, when Novus was implemented. In fact, since the Resolution Moss references (08-184) was preceded the use of Novus, we can't access it ourselves. If there was a prior online system that shows information before 11/08, it's not readily accessible. Now that the public has had access to over 15 years of minutes and agendas, I sincerely hope that data will still be openly available, and that the new Peak system includes a link to Novus and clear Public Notice on where/how to find older records.

Glad to see the new Board is open to trying different approaches. I'm a little surprised at the "drastically reduced" admission price. I thought, at $5 for adults and kids free, that it was already one of the less expensive events in the area. Granted, that adds up if someone wanted to visit multiple days/nights. Maybe also offering a single admission price for the entire Fair would be worth exploring as an option. Being free to return at a later day/time without paying each time may encourage attendance. I really hope that fees for vendors and exhibitors stays reasonable (perhaps even a "drastically reduced" discount for local businesses and independent crafters, etc). Increased charges that are pricing out the "little guys" is a tactic that ruins a lot of festivals and events for me. Browsing and supporting unique, locally made products is much more desirable than when most vendors who can afford to show up are just travelling retail distributors (the same people that will disappear and never stand by their goods....and are another event every week all over the region, selling cheap imported products that you can buy at the mall kiosks or Amazon).

Truth. But I guess not speaking English with be a great way to improve the process for the all the non-English speaking illegals that NYS started issuing under the "Green Light" Law a few years ago....

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